While Malta’s football team has been struggling to score a victory against even the smallest of nations, Maltese player Kurt Fenech has been rubbing shoulders with the best in the world in the electronic version of the game.

However, Kurt, also known by his alias kurt0411 or as the ‘Zlatan Ibrahimovic of FIFA’ for his cocky comments, has just called it quits after FIFA creators EA banned him for two months for “abusive behaviour”.

The ban was the result of a video Kurt uploaded to his YouTube channel in which he lashed out at EA over its release of FIFA 19 and called on fellow gamers to unite with him to “win this war”. According to the Maltese gamer, EA had asked him to take down the video because he had posted it a week after the deadly shooting at a video game tournament in Florida. However, Kurt hit back, saying there was no correlation at all between his video and the shooting and that insinuations claiming otherwise were “sickening”.

EA responded by suspending Kurt for two months from competitive play in the FIFA 19 global series for “repeated code of conduct violations…including abusive behaviour towards FIFA players and others in the FIFA community”.

That proved to be the final straw for Kurt, who uploaded a video confirming he has decided to quit competitive FIFA for good.

“They’ve taken away the one thing that, tough as it can be, I enjoyed doing the most, competing against the very best players,” he said. “I know a lot of people do this for the money but for me it was always about the adrenaline rush. For the last 10 years I’ve given pretty much everything into this game. It’s been my life for the last 10 years so it won’t be easy. Some of you told me to be careful and that I should have seen this happen, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect them to stoop this low.”

“Last time I checked, we aren’t in the 1920s but in 2018, heading into 2019. When freedom of expression is taken away, what is really left? I’m sure this could get resolved by a simple apology from my part but there’s no chance in hell thats ever going to happen.”

In a tweet, Kurt went on to question why EA decided to ban him when other pros had posted far more sinister comments, such as wishing cancer upon opponents.

He also confirmed he will be seeking legal advice on how to proceed, leaving open a possibility that he might sue EA for its behaviour towards him.

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]